2013 Booker longlist: The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan
ConversazioniBooker Prize
Iscriviti a LibraryThing per pubblicare un messaggio.
Questa conversazione è attualmente segnalata come "addormentata"—l'ultimo messaggio è più vecchio di 90 giorni. Puoi rianimarla postando una risposta.
2alexdaw
Ooh - just got this from the library last night. It looks a nice slim readable volume. I'll let you know how I go.
3kidzdoc
Here's my review:
My father still lives back the road past the weir in the cottage I was reared in. I go there every day to see is he dead and every day he lets me down.
This novel was the most surprising one to be chosen for this year's Booker Prize longlist, as it was rejected by 47 publishers before Doubleday Ireland decided to accept it. It is set in a rural Irish town during the financial crisis of the last decade, after the local building firm has gone under. The book is divided into short chapters, each narrated by a person in the book that is linked to all of the others. The main character is Bobby Mahon, a handsome young married man who is embittered by the recent loss of his job at the building firm and by the knowledge that his boss, Pokey Burke, has cheated him and his work mates out of their pensions. He also has a difficult relationship with his father, a widowed old drunkard who wasted away the family's savings and seems to hang on to life to spite his son, who will inherit the cottage once his father dies. Bobby's loathing for his father is strong enough that he often thinks about killing him, to gain the property and to be rid of his presence forever.
Through the accounts of the other characters the main theme of the novel comes into focus, similar to a tapestry created by multiple weavers, and the reader learns how the country's economic collapse has ruined the lives and dreams of those who live there. Multiple story lines surround the tragic central one, which ends with a surprising twist.
I found The Spinning Heart to be far less satisfying than most other readers. The characters in this novel are almost all deeply unhappy, bitter, and speak ill about those who are closest to them. I found their rants to be frequently repetitive and gossipy, and I soon lost interest in them and the book as a whole. It is a well written book, but I wasn't engaged by it, and I would be surprised if it was chosen for the Booker shortlist. It is a short novel at just over 150 pages, so I may give it another go to see if I like it better the second time around. (3 stars)
My father still lives back the road past the weir in the cottage I was reared in. I go there every day to see is he dead and every day he lets me down.
This novel was the most surprising one to be chosen for this year's Booker Prize longlist, as it was rejected by 47 publishers before Doubleday Ireland decided to accept it. It is set in a rural Irish town during the financial crisis of the last decade, after the local building firm has gone under. The book is divided into short chapters, each narrated by a person in the book that is linked to all of the others. The main character is Bobby Mahon, a handsome young married man who is embittered by the recent loss of his job at the building firm and by the knowledge that his boss, Pokey Burke, has cheated him and his work mates out of their pensions. He also has a difficult relationship with his father, a widowed old drunkard who wasted away the family's savings and seems to hang on to life to spite his son, who will inherit the cottage once his father dies. Bobby's loathing for his father is strong enough that he often thinks about killing him, to gain the property and to be rid of his presence forever.
Through the accounts of the other characters the main theme of the novel comes into focus, similar to a tapestry created by multiple weavers, and the reader learns how the country's economic collapse has ruined the lives and dreams of those who live there. Multiple story lines surround the tragic central one, which ends with a surprising twist.
I found The Spinning Heart to be far less satisfying than most other readers. The characters in this novel are almost all deeply unhappy, bitter, and speak ill about those who are closest to them. I found their rants to be frequently repetitive and gossipy, and I soon lost interest in them and the book as a whole. It is a well written book, but I wasn't engaged by it, and I would be surprised if it was chosen for the Booker shortlist. It is a short novel at just over 150 pages, so I may give it another go to see if I like it better the second time around. (3 stars)
4alexdaw
Great review Darryl. I just loved the writing in this. Thought it very clever. It's on my shortlist. On to the next one - torn between Transatlantic and Harvest and Five Star Billionaire. Maybe I'll just go from the smallest to the biggest !
5LovingLit
This book is was the only copy of any Booker longlisted book 2013 available in any of the libraries in my city. So now it is mine, and there are none left. :)
I plan to read it in the next 2 weeks.
I plan to read it in the next 2 weeks.
6LovingLit
The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan
At first this story grabbed me. The gritty characters, their stories of trouble and strife in the recent Irish recession, but as the story-teller switched from person to person to person I grew tired of the nasty ways people talked of each other and themselves. The story eventually comes out, as with each new chapter a little more is revealed about what is happening in this rural town.
The story is centered on the failure of a construction company. The owed money, the lack of work and purpose of a populace is a large and engaging part of it. The problem being, that that story is told through the eyes of a bunch of self-important gossipers. It felt like a poor working class version of Made in Chelsea, (a reality TV show about a load of rich London socialites. The show is made up of people talking to and about each other, who has slept with who and who has slighted who).
I would have loved to see the story take shape through one or two of the characters eyes, just to see if that story would have grabbed me more. Even though I saw some great lines of writing in it, as it turned out, I didn't like the story or the way it was told. 2.5 stars.
7edwinbcn
The spinning heart
Finished reading: 23 April 2014
The spinning heart is a very depressing book. Bleakness and depression are, apparently, the hallmarks of Irish literature, as are ugliness and abandon.
The opening story is particularly strong, but the following stories, each devoted to a different character, create a sense of disconnectedness. In subsequent chapters, connectedness between characters is indicated or suggested, but the novel lacks an overall structure, leaving it up to the reader to figure out how characters are connected.
A very tiresome read.
Finished reading: 23 April 2014
The spinning heart is a very depressing book. Bleakness and depression are, apparently, the hallmarks of Irish literature, as are ugliness and abandon.
The opening story is particularly strong, but the following stories, each devoted to a different character, create a sense of disconnectedness. In subsequent chapters, connectedness between characters is indicated or suggested, but the novel lacks an overall structure, leaving it up to the reader to figure out how characters are connected.
A very tiresome read.
